The present invention relates to a dental device that functions to assist in placing implants parallel with each other or parallel with a non-implant appliance supported in the mouth, and to a method of installing implants in parallelism. This allows precise placement of implants at angles and sites as determined by presurgical models, radiographs and stints.
Implants are now commonly used for providing anchor points in the jaw to which supports are made for a single tooth, for multiple teeth, and/or for bridges, etc. If more than one implant is to be inserted in the jaw or if implants are to be used in combination with existing non-implant appliances, it is highly desirable that all the implants be parallel with each other. This parallelism makes for precise and uniform angulation of implants in the jaw for best results. Such parallelism also makes for precise abutments in anchor teeth for bridges and the like since such abutments allow convenient and accurate on and off fitting of bridge supports.
Devices have heretofore been employed for drilling parallel abutment surfaces in teeth for installation of bridges, crowns, etc. An example of such devices is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,344,755. In this patented device, a base portion is used that is secured temporarily to existing teeth by dental silicone or other impression type material. A parallel link assembly is pivotally and rotatably combined with the base portion and supports a dental handpiece or drill in an arrangement such that the cutting axis of the burr of the handpiece is parallel with an established axis on the base portion and can be rotated to prepare the abutment. This prior device and others were not designed for use in connection with establishing parallelism between two or more implants or between a mechanical post supported in the mouth and other implants, and thus cannot function as such.